John B.

@MIPS

Hi. The name's John.
Kamloops has been my home since I moved here in 2000. Over the years I have developed a specialty for working with older computer systems and equipment. We're not talking your lousy 233mhz P1 or old Pentium 4. We're talking REAL hardware! Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems, Tandy, DEC, IBM…The list of machines and peripherals in my collection are phenomenal. I've run almost everything I could easily get my hands on and I'm ALWAYS looking to diversify my collection.

Posts made by MIPS

[quote]Simplified motion - On October 1st all new members become $75 keyholder. Current and returning drop-in members can pay 3 months @ $50 and get a key - new rate effective January 1st. RFID Deadline December 1st.

All members in attendance are key holders
Cory was in the other room as a token drop-in member he votes in the affirmative
Unanamous

I can’t even afford to pay $50 per month, much less $75.
I joined on the promise of paying $50 per month and getting access to the space between set hours (“with an electronic locking system so I don’t have to be here to keep the door open” -Dave), with the promise of 24/7 access granted with a “keyholder” membership at a higher cost. It became clear though after only six months that there was a clear lack of initiative to proceed on this, if not juat so people were not leaving the space because they were fed up with the space being constantly inaccessible outside of Mondays, Wednesdays and perhaps Saturday. While admittedly I was not present at the meeting to voice these concerns I have noted this to others in recent months that going such a direction to a high-cost single tier system might make things easier it negatively impacts members who wish to sign up simply because they cannot afford their own workspace, myself included. $50 is a significant amount to me.
Loitering around outside until a keyholder did make an appearance was only mildly irritating the first few times (Vaughn, Cole and initially Dave do not count in this matter because they have their own lives and thus are not expected to be at the space “just because”) but this is something I can neither endorse or stand beside. I’m done.

Please verify the seals on those pumps are intact. While they are grounded devices I’m sure moisture in the motor housing will not be nice. I noticed during the first chiller test at least one had mineral oil escaping from it. The seals are easy to access. There are four screws holding the bottom of the pump housing on.
Specs for the pump can be found here: http://littlegiant.com/products/industrial/small-submersible-pumps/3e-34n-series/#Features

As you might of noticed over the last few weeks there has been an accumulation of stuff in the Hack Room. At one point it used to have a “take whatever you want” sign on it, but that seems to of gone missing.
Anyways, THIS SATURDAY I will be leading a major attempt to retake back the hack room by going through it all and sending out as much as I possibly can for eWaste recycling. A few items have exceptions for now (mainly the computers and the three shelves of test gear in the corner, the 3D printers, rework machine, CNC machine etc.) but everything else is on the block. That in mind, IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING IN THE HACK ROOM YOU WANT TO KEEP I SUGGEST YOU MOVE IT OUT OF THERE BY SATURDAY MORNING OR IT MIGHT NOT BE THERE NEXT TIME YOU ARE IN. If there is specifically anything in the room you want to keep MOVE IT OUT OF THE ROOM. If there are any cables or parts you want for a project at home TAKE THEM HOME NOW.
In a nutshell IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN STORING YOUR PROJECTS IN YOUR CUBBY SPACE OR AT HOME LIKE YOU SHOULD, YOU BETTER NOT HAVE IT IN THE ROOM OR IT WILL LIKELY BE GOING OUT.
The goal of this is to refresh what we have for hackable items and fodder via continued donations. Our stockpile of existing dismantled components will for the most part remain because we’ve dismantled enough printers now to say we are good for 3D printer parts but stuff like overflowing bins of cables will be culled.
We also need to start seriously considering what to do with some of the donations from Ken. We have essentially not used any of the laptops or the desktops (exception is four I have reserved for the classroom) and nobody has attempted a reflow on the consoles he has dropped off. I will not include these items in this cull but unless we come up with a use for these items soon I suggest we return these to Ken as well because they are taking up large amounts of space.

There is a gas powered pressure washer that surfaced in the mud room with no idea where it came from, no hoses and not even its wheels. Anyone know who it belongs to and was it a donation or was it delivered for the cleaning and not picked up yet?

Also, I will be bringing the pressure washer back tonight. Apparently they were not done with it yet. >_>

@Grant-Fraser
I have three used but working pumps sitting in a warehouse in East Vancouver right now. I was planning a quick day trip down to Seattle to pick up a second laserdisc autochanger soon so I could bump that ahead a few weeks and go down over the long weekend.

Please be aware that the two machines in the mud room currently are NOT related to this project. They are a donation to the space and will be moved to more permanent locations.@Grant-Fraser , I need the pieces back that you were unable to get sandblasted. The whole project is hanging up on those right now.

I believe that is a bike rack for visiting members so there are not bicicles leaning against bins in the mud room however at the moment Vaughn has one hook reserved for his own bike. It’s not the best place for a bike rack but I wouldn’t suggest it be outside in this neighborhood.